As if she didn’t know.

  “Not happy to see me?” He began closing the space between them, his slight smile daring her to dispute his question. “Know why I wanted to catch you unawares earlier? So I could see your eyes, and know what you felt in that very instant.”

  Her gaze darted around as if seeking escape, but with the stalls and sink at her sides and the wall behind her, she’d backed herself into a corner. She no longer looked him in the eyes, but he caught her gaze moving over his body as if she couldn’t help herself.

  Go on, little liar, he thought as her heart rate sped up and a deeper, richer scent covered that tinge of fear. Tell me you didn’t feel that thunderbolt when we saw each other again, and that you don’t feel more alive now than you have in years.

  “Have you met my boyfriend?” she blurted out, and then recoiled as if the words had struck her, too. “How did you weasel into Randy’s life to become a groomsman, anyhow?” she went on in almost desperate haste. “Did you find out my best friend was marrying him? If so, you must have mind-fucked him quick. They were only engaged for a month.”

  He didn’t rise to the bait about Noah. That was her attempt at deflection, and he wouldn’t indulge it.

  “I’ve known Randy over six months,” he said, enjoying the shock that bloomed over her features. “Unusual bloke, don’t you agree? Know what his first words to me were, after we sat side by side for an hour in a bar? He said, ‘I hope this won’t be engraved on my headstone, but you haven’t breathed this whole time. Care to tell me how you do that?’”

  Her blink was priceless. “He knows what you are?”

  “’Course. I gave him a peep from my eyes with the green lights on, and told him he hadn’t seen anything. He just blinked at me the same way you did and asked if that was supposed to work. Obviously, that was unexpected, so we struck up a conversation.” After I killed yet another vampire for you. “We became mates. It wasn’t until this week, after I’d accepted my position as groomsman, that he met me in a bar with your scent all over him. You’d helped him move into Denise’s that day.”

  She seemed dazed and even a little hurt before she schooled her expression into blankness. Bones said nothing while hiding a sardonic smile. Not nice to think that you might be an afterthought, is it? Welcome to my world.

  “So, running into you today is just coincidence?” she said. “You’ve, ah…gotten over what happened before?”

  He’d admire the balls of the question if he didn’t know bravado was her chief defense whenever she felt vulnerable.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he mocked. “But you can stew about it, the same way I’ve had to stew ever since I got your bloody Dear John note. I will tell you this, though”-footsteps approached, followed by mutters in a voice he well recognized-“we have unfinished business between us, and we are going to sort it no matter how much you’d rather avoid doing so.”

  Her face paled. Then, it turned ashen when Justina’s voice boomed out. “Cather-er, Cristine! Are you in there?”

  “Oh, shit!” Cat said, staring at the door in horror.

  He only smiled. “Think I’ll pay my respects to your mum.”

  “Don’t you dare,” she began.

  Bones flung open the door.

  Cat sucked in an appalled gasp. Justina looked at Bones with confusion that instantly faded as the part of her brain that subconsciously remembered their encounter told her who he was far faster than she’d originally recognized him. Then, rage filled her features, and she turned nearly the same purple shade as her Greco-styled gown.

  “You!”

  “Lovely to see you again,” Bones replied. “That frock looks very fetching on you.”

  “Filthy animal,” Justina snarled. “Every night I prayed you were dead and rotting in hell!”

  And dismembered, cremated, and fertilizing your garden, Bones added, but all he said was, “You should have spoken up, then. The Almighty must not have heard you.”

  “Mother,” Cat said in a sharp tone. “Enough! And you.” Now, her glare was aimed his way. “Whatever you have to say to me can wait until this reception is over. That’s my friend and yours out there, waiting for us to get wedding pictures with them, and that is what we’re going to do.”

  “Pictures?” Justina repeated in a near shriek.

  Cat gave her mother a single shake. “Yes, and if you do anything to trash Denise’s wedding, I’ll…I’ll let him bite you!”

  Bones flashed his fangs at Justina. She looked incensed, but when Cat turned to him, he only wore an innocent smile.

  “Happy to oblige, Kitten.”

  “Out,” she said with an emphatic wave at the door.

  “Ladies.” He doffed an imaginary cap and walked away.

  “You can’t expect me to allow anyone to stay under the same roof as that monster,” he heard Justina say.

  “Oh, you will,” Cat replied in a steely voice. “Denise is going to have the lovely day she deserves even if I have to knock you unconscious and stuff you in one of those stalls.”

  “Go ahead!” Justina retorted. “As soon as I wake up, I’ll call Don and tell him what’s happening here.”

  Bones slowed. That wouldn’t do-

  “You do, and I swear to God that I’ll have Bones change me into a vampire this very night.”

  An impressive threat, not that he’d comply. He never changed anyone unless they truly wanted it, and Cat didn’t. But, Justina’s gasp was so horrified that he smiled.

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “Try me,” Cat said in a deadly purr. “Call Don, and I’ll be rocking a new pair of fangs before the sun is up.”

  This saved him from mesmerizing Justina again. She’d never call Cat’s bluff on this. It was her worst fear.

  “That’s what he wants from you, Catherine,” Justina said. “He wants to steal your soul and turn you into a beast!”

  “Well, then you’ll bear that in mind and keep your mouth shut, won’t you?” Cat replied tartly. She also sounded closer. Bones slipped behind one of the decorative columns in the hallway. “And call me Cristine,” Cat went on. “Can you be more obvious that I have an alias?”

  Moments later, Denise ran toward Cat.

  “I’m so sorry!” Denise said. “I didn’t know that Randy’s friend was…” her voice lowered to a whisper. “A vampire! But don’t worry. I talked to Randy. He was amazed I knew they existed, too! We have so much in common. Anyway, Randy says he’s known him for months and that he’s harmless.”

  “Harmless?” Justina sounded like she’d swallowed a toad.

  Bones snuck a glance around the column. Her face was worth it.

  “We aren’t talking about a dog that may or may not bite,” Justina went on. “We are talking about a murderer-”

  “Ahem,” Cat said while tapping her neck in warning.

  Bones muffled his snort, but couldn’t entirely contain it.

  Justina strode away in disgust.

  “It’s okay, Denise,” Cat said. “He knows as long as he keeps his fangs clean, we won’t have any problems.”

  “Did you talk to him?” Denise asked. “You were in the bathroom a while, and I didn’t see him, either. You corner him?”

  “Um, well, uh.” Cat sounded flustered now. “I know him. I mean, I’ve seen him around Virginia. We have an understanding. He doesn’t mess with me, and I don’t mess with him.”

  “Well, then, let’s go get pictures. I’m glad you two aren’t going to fight. Tell him not to mention anything about your real job to Randy, okay? Your boss would lose all the hairs off his balls if he found out how many people knew about you.”

  “Well put,” Cat muttered, and followed Denise to the photography room.

  After a moment, Bones went inside, too. Randy waved him over, introducing him to Denise.

  “A pleasure,” Bones said, and meant it. Not only was she Randy’s new wife, Denise also knew what Cat was and accepted all of her. Cat had longed for a friend like that her whole life.

  Cat still longed for him, too, even if she refused to admit it. Now, to show her what she was pretending she didn’t want.

  “Hey, gorgeous,” the petite brunette bridesmaid said, sidling up to Bones. “I’m Felicity, and I’m your wedding partner for the night. What did you say your name was?”

  “Cris,” Bones said, taking her hand while feeling Cat’s glare on him. “Charmed.”

  Cat wanted to play games? Very well. He’d play.

  11

  Cat nearly ran from the room once the pictures were finished. All vampires were territorial, and denials or no, Cat obviously still considered him to be hers. Bones couldn’t count the times he’d heard her teeth grind at Felicity’s flirting, and her anger practically scalded the air every time Felicity “accidentally” brushed against him during the photos.

  “Know what I think we should do now?” Felicity said while pretending to adjust the flower in his lapel.

  Yes, and it’s not happening, Bones thought, but only said, “Hold that thought. I need a drink. Back soon.”

  Bones left without waiting for Felicity’s response. Cat had few outlets available for her anger, so he knew where she’d be.

  In the scant moments it took Bones to reach the bar in the ballroom, Cat had already finished one gin and tonic and said “Another” to the bartender. “More alcohol,” she added after watching the bartender pour.

  “Drowning your sorrows?” Bones noted in amusement.

  She didn’t turn around. “None of your business.”

  “Darling!” Noah’s voice made both of them stiffen. “There you are.”

  Noah brushed by Bones and kissed Cat’s cheek. It was almost the last thing he ever did. Bones piled ice over his instant spurt of jealousy while thinking, quick one, karma!

  “I’ll show you to your table, Noah,” Cat said, almost shoving the lanky man out of Bones’s reach. Either she recognized the look on Bones’s face, or she knew him too well. Either way, she was wise to remove Noah from his sight.

  Bones watched them leave, and then caught Justina staring at him. Her venomous look turned triumphant when she looked at Cat, leading Noah by the hand, and then back at Bones.

  Bones only winked at her. Enjoy that sight, Justina. Tonight will be the last time you’ll ever see it.

  Justina’s face reddened in anger. She left her table, rounding on Cat as soon as she walked away from Noah.

  “Do you know what that beast just did?” Justina hissed to her daughter. “He winked at me!”

  Cat’s laughter spilled over Bones like moonlight breaking out across a starless night. God, how he’d missed that sound.

  “You think that’s funny?” Justina snapped.

  Cat stifled her chuckles as she walked toward the head table where the wedding party was segregated.

  “Well, Mom, he risked his life to save you, and then you tried to get him killed. My guess is that he doesn’t like you.”

  “As if I care about him,” Justina muttered while Cat took her seat at the long, rectangular table. “What I care about is-”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Cat burst out, staring at the name card next to hers. Bones already knew what it said: Cris Pin, the name he’d given Randy several months ago.

  Bones slipped into his chair as Cat shot out of hers.

  “Justina, we meet again,” Bones said. “Wouldn’t want to be rude, but I believe your table is over there.”

  He pointed for effect.

  Justina opened her mouth with an incensed sound, but then was cut off by Felicity’s loud, “There you are!” as she spotted Bones.

  As soon as she reached him, Felicity grabbed Bones’s arm and tucked it near her cleavage. “You and I are paired off together, remember, so no more running off! Oh, and I hope you dance as good as you look.”

  “Slut,” Cat said under her breath.

  Felicity didn’t even turn her way. “What was that?”

  Cat cleared her throat. “Good luck, I said.”

  Felicity’s smile was full of promise as she stared at Bones. “I don’t need luck.”

  You need more than that, Bones thought. You’d need a miracle rivaling all ten of the great Biblical plagues.

  Cat finished her gin and tonic in one gulp. Then, she went back toward the bar, her mum following behind her.

  “Oh, Ms. Russell,” Bones said, raising his voice.

  Cat stopped, turning around almost guilty at hearing him say her borrowed surname.

  “Be a luv and get me a drink, will you?” Bones said with a wicked grin. “You remember my preference, I’m sure.”

  Cat’s glare promised revenge, but she continued to the bar.

  “That filthy, lecherous animal,” Justina hissed.

  “Stuff it,” Cat said curtly. Then, her voice softened with feigned politeness as she said to the bartender, “Tall glass. All gin. Don’t even think about criticizing.”

  Bones stifled his laugh. Her half-vampire nature required far more liquor than that to take the edge off. The poor bartender was in for a long night.

  “Oh, yeah,” Cat said after taking a long swallow of her drink. “And one whisky, neat.”

  Randy and Denise arrived, taking their seats after giving Bones and Felicity a hug. Cat’s seat was between Randy and Bones, and Denise was to Randy’s left. Bones was ignoring more of Felicity’s innuendoes when Cat returned, holding a pilsner-sized glass of gin along with a normal-sized glass of whisky. She set the whisky in front of Bones without comment and took another long swallow of her gin.

  Felicity faked a gasp. “Cristine! Can’t you keep a lid on your drinking? This is my cousin’s wedding, for heaven’s sake!”

  Bones had seen Cat give kinder looks to people she murdered. Then, the tall glass in her hand shattered.

  “Motherfucker!” Cat snapped as glass and gin showered her.

  Everyone within earshot stared. Cat’s cheeked reddened, and Bones stifled another laugh. Put her in a room full of rogue vampires and she’d slaughter them all without blinking, but among humans, she blushed over saying a naughty word. Priceless.

  “Cristine! Are you all right?” Randy said, wrapping a napkin around Cat’s hand. Some of the shards had nicked her, causing a new, heady aroma to fill the air.

  “I’m fine,” Cat said, looking as if she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

  Denise gave Bones a speculative glance before turning to Cat. “Do you want us to move your seat?”

  Cat’s brows furrowed before understanding dawned. Then, she shook her head once. No.

  Bones relaxed until that infuriating bloke ran up to her.

  “Cristine!” Noah took her hand. “Is it bad?”

  “I’m fine, just embarrassed,” she said, pulling her hand away. “Go back to your seat. Let’s not make more of a scene.”

  Noah hesitated, but Cat’s firm nod had him saying, “All right,” and leaving after caressing her cheek.

  Bones’s hands weren’t on his glass. That’s the only reason his didn’t shatter, too.

  “Really,” Cat said to Denise, who still gave her a worried look. “I’m going to the ladies’ room to wash my hand and throw away these pieces.”

  Denise rose. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Don’t,” Cat said, and gave a deliberate glance at Bones.

  Denise’s brows went up. Bones’s didn’t, but he was surprised, too. She suddenly wanted him to come after her?

  At Cat’s nod to Denise’s unspoken question, Denise said, “Cris, would you go with Cristine to see if they have any bandages? Randy says…that you have a great deal of experience with bleeding wounds,” she finished with a suppressed laugh.

  Cheeky vixen. No wonder she and Cat were mates.

  “Are you a doctor?” Felicity said with even more interest.

  “Back in London I was many things,” Bones replied. Let her make of that what she would.

  Cat swung by the bar before leaving the ballroom. “Gin,” she said, dropping a $100 bill. “The whole bottle.”

  The bartender gave a concerned look at her bloody hand. “Miss, maybe you should slow down-”

  Bones fired up his gaze. “Give the lady the bottle, mate.”

  The bartender handed it over without another word.

  Cat didn’t go to the ladies’ room. She took Bones outside to the parking lot, drinking the entire way. Her blood soon left red streaks across the bottle, but Bones said nothing until she stopped at the furthest corner of the parking lot. Low-hanging trees shaded much of the country club from view, though the warm breeze carried the sounds of music and laughter to them.

  “Better now?” Bones asked when the bottle was half empty.

  She gave a humorless laugh. “Not hardly. I don’t know how long my mom will keep quiet, but in case you didn’t notice, she wants to call in the troops and have you skewered over an open flame with a silver stick, so you have to leave.”

  “No,” he said simply.

  “Are you trying to get killed?” she snapped. “One call to my boss, Bones! That’s all it’ll take, and believe me, my mom’s probably caressing her phone and fantasizing about it now.”

  Her concern for him would be touching, if it hadn’t also led to the most miserable years of his life.

  “Sods like your boss have chased me most of my undead life, yet I’m still here while they’re not. Neither your mum nor your boss scares me, is that clear? Now, unless you want to have our very overdue talk here, I suggest we return to the reception.”

  “Or you could just leave,” she muttered.

  Like hell.

  “Forget about me skulking off. Or you, for that matter. I found you days ago. There’s a reason you didn’t know that before now. Try to vanish in a misguided attempt to protect me, and it’ll be a short flight. Then, we’ll be having our conversation under far less pleasant circumstances because I have damn well waited long enough to have this out with you.”

  Her gray gaze widened with sudden understanding. “It was you I felt outside my house the other night, wasn’t it?”

  Appears he had let too much of his aura out. “You felt that? I wondered if you did.”